§5.6.1si, me dius fidius, ad hoc bellum nihil pertineret, ad disciplinam certe militiae plurimum intererat insuescere militem nostrum non solum parta victoria frui, §5.6.2sed, si etiam res lentior sit, pati taedium et quamvis serae spei exitum expectare et, si non sit aestate perfectum bellum, hiemem opperiri nec, sicut aestivas aves, statim autumno tecta ac recessus circumspicere.
If, by Hercules, it did not pertain to this war at all, it was certainly of the greatest importance for military discipline that our soldier should become accustomed not only to enjoying a victory once gained, but also, if a matter should be somewhat slow, to enduring weariness and waiting for the outcome of a hope, however late, and, if the war were not finished in summer, to waiting for winter, and not, like summer birds, immediately looking around for roofs and retreats in autumn.
§5.6.3obsecro vos, venandi studium ac voluptas homines per nives ac pruinas in montes silvasque rapit; belli necessitatibus eam patientiam non adhibebimus, quam vel lusus ac voluptas elicere solet?
I beseech you, the eagerness and pleasure of hunting hurries men through snows and frosts into mountains and forests; shall we not apply to the necessities of war that endurance which even play and pleasure are accustomed to elicit?
§5.6.4adeone effeminata corpora militum nostrorum esse putamus, adeo molles animos, ut hiemem unam durare in castris, abesse ab domo non possint? ut tamquam navale bellum tempestatibus captandis et observando tempore anni gerant, non aestus, non frigora pati possint?
Do we believe the bodies of our soldiers to be so effeminate, their minds so soft, that they cannot endure one winter in camp, or be away from home? That they must wage war as if it were a naval war, by catching favorable weather and observing the season of the year, unable to endure heat or cold?
§5.6.5erubescant profecto, si quis eis haec obiciat, contendantque et animis et corporibus suis virilem patientiam inesse et se iuxta hieme atque aestate bella gerere posse nec se patrocinium mollitiae inertiaeque mandasse tribunis et meminisse hanc ipsam potestatem non in umbra nec in tectis maiores suos creasse.
Surely they would blush if anyone should object these things to them, and they would contend that both in their minds and in their bodies there is a manly endurance, and that they can wage war equally in winter and in summer, and that they have not entrusted the protection of softness and idleness to the tribunes, and that they remember that their ancestors created this very power not in the shade nor under roofs.
§5.6.6haec virtute militum vestrorum, haec Romano nomine sunt digna, non Veios tantum nec hoc bellum intueri, quod instat, sed famam et ad alia bella et ad ceteros populos in posterum quaerere.
These things are worthy of the virtue of your soldiers, these of the Roman name: not to look only at Veii, nor at this war which is pressing, but to seek fame for other wars and for other peoples in the future.
§5.6.7an mediocre discrimen opinionis secuturum ex hac re putatis, utrum tandem finitimi populum Romanum eum esse putent, cuius si qua urbs primum illum brevissimi temporis sustinuerit impetum, §5.6.8nihil deinde timeat, an hic sit terror nominis nostri, ut exercitum Romanum non taedium longinquae oppugnationis, non vis hiemis ab urbe circumsessa semel amovere possit nec finem ullum alium belli quam victoriam noverit nec impetus potius bella quam perseverantia gerat?
Or do you think that a mediocre difference of opinion will follow from this matter, whether indeed neighboring peoples think that the Roman people is one whose first onset of a very short duration, if any city should withstand it, it has thereafter nothing to fear, or whether this is the terror of our name, that neither the weariness of a long siege nor the violence of winter can ever move a Roman army away from a city once besieged, and that it knows no other end of war than victory, and that it conducts wars by perseverance rather than by onset?
§5.6.9quae in omni quidem genere militiae, maxime tamen in obsidendis urbibus necessaria est, quarum plerasque munitionibus ac naturali situ inexpugnabiles fame sitique tempus ipsum vincit atque expugnat, §5.6.10sicut Veios expugnabit, nisi auxilio hostibus tribuni plebis fuerint et Romae invenerint praesidia Veientes, quae nequiquam in Etruria quaerunt.
Which indeed is necessary in every kind of military service, but especially in besieging cities, most of which, impregnable by fortifications and natural situation, time itself overcomes and takes by hunger and thirst, just as it will capture Veii, unless the tribunes of the plebs should be of assistance to the enemy, and the Veientes should find in Rome the protections which they seek in vain in Etruria.
an est quicquam, §5.6.11quod Veientibus optatum aeque contingere possit, quam ut seditionibus primum urbs Romana, deinde velut ex contagione castra impleantur? at hercule apud hostis tanta modestia est,
Or is there anything that could happen to the Veientes as equally wished-for, as that first the Roman city, and then, as if by contagion, the camp should be filled with seditions?
§5.6.12ut non obsidionis taedio, non denique regni quicquam apud eos novatum sit, non negata auxilia ab Etruscis inritaverint animos; §5.6.13morietur enim extemplo, quicumque erit seditionis auctor, nec cuiquam dicere ea licebit, quae apud vos inpune dicuntur.
But, by Hercules, among the enemy there is so great a discipline that neither by weariness of the siege, nor finally by the kingdom, has anything been changed among them, nor have the denied aids from the Etruscans irritated their minds; for whoever is the author of sedition will die immediately, nor will it be allowed for anyone to say those things which are said among you with impunity.
§5.6.14fustuarium meretur, qui signa relinquit aut praesidio decedit; auctores signa relinquendi et deserendi castra non uni aut alteri militi, sed universis exercitibus palam in contione audiuntur; §5.6.15adeo quidquid tribunus plebi loquitur, etsi prodendae patriae dissolvendaeque rei publicae est, adsuestis quieti audire et dulcedine potestatis eius capti quaelibet sub ea scelera latere sinitis.
He deserves the cudgelling who abandons the standards or departs from his post; yet the authors of abandoning standards and deserting camp are heard openly in the assembly, not by one or two soldiers, but by entire armies; so much have you become accustomed to hearing quietly whatever a tribune of the plebs says, even if it is for betraying the fatherland and dissolving the state, and, captured by the sweetness of his power, you allow any crimes to lie hidden under it.
§5.6.16reliquum est, ut, quae hic vociferantur, eadem in castris et apud milites agant et exercitus corrumpant ducibusque parere non patiantur, §5.6.17quoniam ea demum Romae libertas est, non senatum, non magistratus, non leges, non mores maiorum, non instituta patrum, non disciplinam vereri militiae. ”
It remains that they should do the same things in the camp and among the soldiers which they vociferate here, and corrupt the army and not allow them to obey their leaders, since that indeed is liberty at Rome: not to respect the senate, nor the magistrates, nor the laws, nor the customs of ancestors, nor the institutions of fathers, nor the discipline of military service."